A simple enough concept, I wanted to chronologically arrange songs that mentioned the year somewhere in their lyrics. I tried to avoid those using the year in the song title where I could.
1. Midlake - Roscoe
I used to ride little kid bikes as a grown man in Austin, TX. Mutiny BMX used to put out some cool edits and I was exposed to a lot of new music from their videos. Midlake is a group from Denton, TX, and I first heard this song from a Mutiny video. Apparently this album is based on the old 8 bit game Oregon Trail.
Whenever I was a child I wondered what if my name
Had changed into something more productive like Roscoe
Been born in 1891
Waiting with my Aunt Roseline
2. T. Rex - 20th Century Boy
I think I was introduced to T. Rex pretty late, mostly because of Ty Segall's album Ty Rex and the movie Baby Driver.
Well, it's plain to see you were meant for me, yeah
I'm your boy, your 20th century toy
Yeah!
3. John Stewart - Mother Country
I watched this documentary called Apollo 11 at SXSW in 2019. It uses raw NASA footage to retell the 1969 trip to the moon without any narration or music. There's one exception (this song), and the director told the audience that they were reviewing the footage and heard it very faintly playing as they made their return journey to Earth. One of the astronauts had brought a recording of it with them on tape, so the director got permission to use it in the film.
And the sun is going down for Mister Bouie
As he's singing with his class of 1902
Oh, mother country, I do love you
Oh, mother country, I do love you
4. Acid Carousel - 1921
Originally by The Who, I just thought this cover sounded more sonically balanced.
Got a feeling '21
Is going to be a good year
Especially if you and me
See it in together
5. The Jam - The Great Depression
I had trouble finding things referring to the 1920s and 1930s.
I think we must have all gone mad
We're being right turned over
They promised us the Earth
Instead we've got the great depression
Now you're free and easy with the fates
You blame your brothers and sisters
I'm alright Jack so sod the rest
Is the new dissension
6. Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland, 1945
Another Mutiny BMX selection for me, this probably comes from the indie-music starter pack.
The only girl I've ever loved
Was born with roses in her eyes
But then they buried her alive
One evening, 1945
With just her sister at her side
And only weeks before the guns
All came and rained on everyone
7. Sam The Sham & The Pharoahs - Love Potion #9
I told her that I was a flop with chicks
I've been this way since 1956
She looked at my palm, and she made a magic sign
She said “What you need is Love Potion Number Nine”
8. Team Sleep - Tomb of Liegia
I was a fan of Deftones growing up, and really liked the guitar and electronic style of songs like Teenager. Team Sleep is a side project that explored that sound more, and I obsessed over their early demos.
In 1969
I killed a man of mine
In a small Montana town
I was hunted down by hounds
9. Crazee Noize - The Six Teens
Another cover, I felt this version had a little more oomph.
Where were you in sixty-eight
In sixty-eight, Julie was Johnnie's date
Two kids growin' together
Livin' each day as if time was slippin' away
10. Javelin - Moscow 1980
I found Javelin one day when browsing Tumblr. I got to see them play a house show in east Austin and remember them closing their set with this other banger.
The nations together in
peace, science and progress
There was nothing
that could us depress
We clapped our hands,
me and my brother in…
Moscow nineteen-eighty
Moscow nineteen-eighty
Moscow nineteen-eighty
11. Kynan - California Über Alles
How do I not include something involving 1984? This is a cover of a Dead Kennedys song, but I felt this one had more of a synthy 80s vibe.
Now it is 1984 Knock, knock at your front door
It's the suede denim secret police
They have come for your uncool niece
12. No Pomelo - Dairy Dream Queen
Sunset, car keys
Watching from the back seat
1993, I was only 17
I took a nap in the back of an M3
I took a nap in the back of an M3
13. The Radio Dept. - 1995
1995 And though I'm happier now, I always long somehow
And though I'm happier now, I always long somehow
And though I'm happier now, I always long somehow
Back to 1995
14. Streetlight Manifesto - Kristina She Don't Know I Exist
I was in band for 7 years and met a trombonist that became one of my closest friends. He introduced me to third-wave ska, and I rode that wave til the end of high school. I chose the Streetlight Manifesto version over the Catch 22 version, even though I like the instrumental section better on the latter, because the entire re-recording of Keasbey Nights has a higher quality sound.
1.17.98 has been a day that I've come to hate,
As I walked into the video store,
There she stood as my jaw fell to the floor.
Tapping her toe, and waiting in line,
With a movie and another guy,
Why did I bother, Why did I care,
About this girl named Kristina Behr?
15. Fuzz - 21st Century Schizoid Man
I used Ty Segall to my advantage with this King Crimson cover because of time constraints.
Death seed, blind man's greed
Poets starving, children bleed
Nothing he's got, he really needs
21st century schizoid man
16. Destroyer - Painter in Your Pocket
I didn't stand a chance
I didn't stand at all
You looked okay with the others
You look great by yourself
It was 2002 and you needed reminding to stay alive
And so did I
But at least I tried to
Fall upon that sword and never look back
17. The Suicide Machines - 17% 18-25
The Suicide Machines are a cool band if you like playing Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and don't want to commit to a full horn section. This song came from an album critical of the Bush administration, but Destruction By Definition is a more chill time if you want to check them out.
Fuck this war!
You think that you can cope
You didn't fucking vote
2 double-0 6
World War III!
18. Tokyo Police Club - Citizens of Tomorrow
On cold frosty Martian mornings
The chill on my breath is red
Redder than my mother's blood
When she turned to me and said
“This is not how we planned it
But we've gotten ahead of ourselves
Computers rule the planet
And the moon and mars as well
We lost the fight”
That's 2009.
19. The Stills - Snow in California
Do you remember that weird period of time we all 2012 was going to be the end of the world?
Oh, the world is changing
Mayan calendar ends
Oh, the world is changing
So rally up your friends
I lost my way out
In a land of darkness, end of light
With no one left here
To show me how I died
20. Say Hi - The Twenty-Second Century
I used to follow a Blogspot account in 2007 that would routinely post tidbits about a band, a brief review of one of their releases, and then include the entire album in a zip file at the end of a post. This was one of those bands. They were formerly known as Say Hi To Your Mom.
We dreamt it clearly,
shush don't tell them:
the blue craters and all the glass,
the lush plant life,
the lack of angles and the fluorescence, under stars.
But can you keep a secret?
We're gonna be the kids who ruled everything
in the twenty-second century.
21. Scott Walker - 30 Century Man
I was really trying to move along out of the 2000s, but felt like some of the songs weren't working well or got too repeitive. This felt to-the-point.
Play it cool and saran wrap all you can
Be a 30 century man
You can freeze like a 30 century man
Like a 30 century man
22. Porter Robinson - Goodbye to a World
I felt like wrapping up the mix with world-destruction.
Thank you, I'll say goodbye soon
Though its the end of the world, don't blame yourself now
And if its true
I will surround you and give life to a world
That's our own
These were contenders at one point, but were dropped after test listens for disrupting the flow or being too long.